Anita Gracia Dohar is a PhD researcher on the TRACE project. She collaborates with Subak farmers in Bali to trace how their knowledge of irrigated rice cultivation and livelihood adaptation evolves over time. Together with farmers, the research explores how they respond to a range of socio-economic and political pressures—such as tourism-driven land and water competition or changes in the diversity of local rice varieties—while drawing on past and present practices in their adaptation. The aim is to contribute to an inclusive and socially just grassroots ontology for climate adaptation governance.

Using a co-creation approach, she works with farmers to understand how these pressures are negotiated in Subak management. They navigate complex power dynamics across banjar, temple, and state institutions, where decisions on water and cultivation take shape. In doing so, they exercise agency and develop strategies for equitable water distribution, rice cropping systems, and seed management. The Subak is approached as a living archive of these knowledge systems, rituals, and cultural values; sustained, reworked, and passed on through generations by the knowledge holders themselves.

For almost two decades, her work has focused on social justice, with an emphasis on people’s agency in managing livelihoods and natural resources. She holds a BSc from the Bandung Institute of Technology and an MSc from Wageningen University & Research.

Early in her career, she worked in Raja Ampat, conducting research on resource valuation. She then worked for fifteen years with Oxfam Novib in The Hague. Her work spanned two main areas: in Southeast Asia, she supported community-led livelihoods, focusing on small-scale fisherfolk rights in Indonesia and transboundary water governance in the Mekong River region; and for over a decade she led the Farmers’ Agrobiodiversity project within Oxfam’s global seed programme.

In this role, she examined the politics of knowledge in seed systems and collaborated with farming communities across eight countries to strengthen locally grounded practices. This involved co-creating participatory approaches that made visible how farmers adapt seeds over time, negotiate access to genetic resources, and shape adaptation strategies in dialogue with wider governance processes and international debates on Farmers’ Rights.

Selected Publications

Dohar, A. G. (co-author), 'Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations', Review of the FAO Philippines country programming framework 2018–2024, Country Programme Review Series 1, 2025.

Dohar, A. G., Facilitators' field guide for FFS on participatory plant breeding: Participatory variety enhancement. The Hague: Oxfam Novib, 2021.

Dohar, A. G., Gender journey module: SD=HS' efforts to advance women's leadership in agrobiodiversity management. The Hague: Oxfam Novib, 2021. 

Dohar, A. G., Visser, B., Mbozi, H., Kasasa, P., Salazar, R., Mushita, A., & Manicad, G., 'Expanding community support in genetic diversity management: The FFS approach', in: O. T. Westengen & T. Winge (eds.), Farmers and plant breeding: Current approaches and perspectives, pp. 217–230). Routledge, 2019.

Dohar, A. G., Salazar, R., Manicad, G.  & Visser, B., 'Participatory plant breeding: Human development and social reform', in: O. T. Westengen & T. Winge (eds.), Farmers and plant breeding: Current approaches and perspectives, pp. 161–177. Routledge, 2019.

Dohar, A. G., Women's roles in biodiversity management: From lessons to practice and impact—Scaling up pathways in people's biodiversity management [Case study]. Oxfam Novib, ANDES, CTDT, SEARICE, & CGN-WUR, 2016.

Dohar, A. G., & Anggraeni, D. (eds.), Valuasi ekonomi sumberdaya alam di Kepulauan Raja Ampat [Economic valuation of natural resources in the Raja Ampat Islands]. Conservation International Indonesia, 2007.